When does a word’s past make it too sensitive to use in the present? In contra dancing, there’s a particular move that dancers traditionally call a gypsy. But there’s a growing recognition that many people find the term gypsy...
To throw your hat into the room is to ascertain whether someone’s angry with you, perhaps stemming from the idea of tossing your hat in ahead of to see if someone shoots at it. Ronald Reagan used the expression this way when apologizing to...
What’s the past tense of squeeze? Is it squeezed or squoze? While the former is the proper version, squoze is a real word used in several dialects. Ronald Reagan even used it in the 1980s. This is part of a complete episode.
GADA n.— «Special units of real, uniformed, American soldiers are prosecuting a global war of staggering brutality. President George W. Bush gave an order—at one time referred to as a “GADA” (go anywhere, do anything)—similar to, but far...
pit maneuver n.— «When the driver of the car refused to pull over on SR-434 and Ronald Reagan Boulevard in Longwood, a Seminole County deputy decided to move in with the precision immobilization technique called a pit maneuver...